Milwaukee public housing residents; city help may be coming soon

Bill Miston - FOX6 News 9/25/2023

Public housing residents in Milwaukee are one step closer to getting help from the city after they say their complaints have fallen on deaf ears.

MILWAUKEE - Public housing residents in Milwaukee are one step closer to getting help from the city after they say their complaints have fallen on deaf ears.

Residents of the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM), want the city to get involved when it comes to code compliance and enforcement. It is a push that has been months in the making by residents and a nonprofit advocacy group. Those people packed the rooms at City Hall for a Steering and Rules Committee meeting.

"HACM claims they are fixing problems when residents report them," said Alexander Hardy, Common Ground Board of Directors.

Frustrations were clear from HACM residents.

"The water dripping sounds, I kept reporting hearing that. recordings, pictures, all of that. and still nothing was done," said Teddi Minor, HACM resident.

"We are not going to quit, we are going to fight until it’s right," said Vivian Jones, HACM resident.

In the hot seat was HACM's Secretary-Executive Director, Willie Hines – a former alderman and Common Council President.

"The housing authority supports this legislation as a means of demonstrating accountability and building trust with our residents," Hines said.

It started back in March when Common Ground and renters pushed for city protection after complaints that their complaints go nowhere.

"Is each work order assigned a specific reference that anyone can follow up with?" asked Common Council President Jose Perez to Hines.

The crowd shouted, "No!"

The legislation would give the city's Department of Neighborhood Services the power to monitor complaint, do inspections and enforce codes at HACM properties.

"There is no fiscal note -- as of now -- and there's a reason for it," said Erica Roberts, Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) Commissioner.

DNS said it would probably need to hire more inspectors – possibly as many as five.

"We don’t have a great picture of what the volume of work is going to be," Roberts said.

In the end, the legislation was unanimously approved. But questions remain as to how much more work that will mean for the city.

"Would you care to respond to a lot of the claims that were made by residents of HACM properties?" asked FOX6's Bill Miston.

"We support the ordinance and this ordinance will be able to get to the root of many of those issues," said Willie Hines, secretary-executive director of the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee.

Hines said the Housing Authority will meet to work on what that possible relationship will look like -- and the city needs to figure out how much it will cost.

The ordinance will now go to the full Milwaukee Common Council for approval in October.